Despite the presence of 130,000 NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2011, the level of violence throughout the country did not decline. Taliban activity was contained in some areas, but deadly strikes at military and civilian targets continued. As the 2014 deadline for the departure of international forces neared, the country’s democracy was tested by a prolonged deadlock between the branches of government.

Groups fighting the government of Hamid Karzai made extensive use of improvised explosive devices in roadside bombings, suicide attacks, and assassinations. Mindful of its announced pullout, NATO focused on training Afghan army and police forces and gradually transferring security responsibilities to them. Insurgent activity became more frequent in the north and in Kabul. The Haqqani network, an arm of the Taliban with bases in Pakistan and links to al-Qaeda, was particularly adept at carefully planned and executed assaults. They were credited with high-profile suicide attacks on civilian, diplomatic, and government centres in Kabul and elsewhere.

Encouraged by his Western allies, President Karzai pressed ahead with a reconciliation program. The High Peace Council, founded in 2010 to engage the Taliban, attempted to draw opposition figures into dialogue. Some Afghan leaders worried that Karzai might compromise too many basic values, and many women feared that their expanding freedoms would be threatened. Analysts saw the influence of Pakistan behind the Taliban as a threat to Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

After a U.S. raid inside Pakistan in May killed Osama bin Laden, suicide attacks in Afghanistan aimed at local and national leaders increased. Suspicions that Pakistan’s military was supporting Taliban activity in Afghanistan, especially that of the Haqqani network, increased. In September a suicide bomber killed the head of the High Peace Council, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, and Afghan officials claimed to have evidence of Pakistani involvement. In October Karzai admitted that peace talks with the Taliban were futile and said that he would instead deal directly with Pakistan.

Following the killing of Afghan political leader Burhanuddin Rabbani, supporters hold posters …

Jalil Rezayee—EPA/Landov

After the September 2010 parliamentary election, contention had emerged between the Wolesi Jirga (the lower house of the parliament) and the Karzai-appointed Supreme Court and attorney general. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) had reacted to widespread corruption by disqualifying 24 winning candidates, an action that the attorney general called illegal. By the end of that year, Karzai had appointed a special court to reconsider the IEC’s findings, while the new MPs demanded that the president inaugurate the new session. In late January 2011 Karzai consented but insisted that the special court’s decisions to replace any MPs would be binding. Observers accused Karzai of having pressured the parliament in order to weaken it and worried that prolonged uncertainty would erode the people’s trust in government.

The tense situation lasted for months while Karzai’s government carried on, seemingly unaffected. In June the court ruled that 62 MPs whom the IEC had declared winners should be replaced, but when MPs decried the decision, Karzai established yet another commission to evaluate the matter. In August, under orders from Karzai, the IEC reluctantly conceded that 9 of the MPs should be replaced. The new MPs were sworn in, but the episode provoked a walkout, which thus left the parliament without a quorum. Only in October was the parliament able to fully function. The constitutional standoff between the parliament on one side and the government and the judiciary on the other served to magnify the authority of the president.

Throughout the year talks continued between the Afghan and U.S. governments over a formal agreement regulating the status of U.S. forces in the country following Afghanistan’s assumption of responsibility for its own security. The Afghan public largely saw the matter as a question of allowing permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan. Some felt that such bases would limit Afghanistan’s sovereignty while disturbing its neighbours, whereas others saw U.S. bases as a guarantee against interference from neighbouring countries. U.S. officials repeatedly denied having any interest in establishing permanent bases. A Loya Jirga, or assembly of national leaders, agreed in November that U.S. bases ought to be allowed for 10 years so long as Afghanistan’s sovereignty and traditions were guaranteed. In December an international peace conference met in Bonn, Ger., to review Afghanistan’s peace process, but hopes for greater cooperation were weakened when, in response to a NATO air strike inside Pakistan, Pakistan refused to participate.

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